Habitat Characterization, Trophic Position And Seasonal Influence On Aquatic Insects In The Selected Feeder Streams Of Belum-Temengor Forest Complex (Btfc), Perak

Kajian serangga akuatik dan tindak balas mereka terhadap keadaan persekitaran telah digunakan di seluruh dunia sebagai pemantauan biologi kesihatan sungai. Oleh itu, tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan pengaruh ciri-ciri fizikal sungai terhadap kelimpahan dan kepelbagaian invertebrata akuatik dan bagi menentukan sumber makanan yang berpotensi untuk organisma air tawar. The study of aquatic insects and their response towards environmental conditions has been used worldwide for biomonitoring of river health. Thus the purposes of this study were to determine the influence of physical characteristics of the streams towards abundance and diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates and to ascertain potential food sources of freshwater organism

Seasonal influence on structuring aquatic insects communities in upstream rivers Belum-Temengor Forest Complex

The plausible effect of seasonal change (wet and dry) on the structure of aquatic insect community was investigated at rivers in Belum-Temengor Forest Complex (BTFC), Perak, Malaysia. The amount of rainfall received was considered as seasonal changes in the tropical regions. The rivers were visited twice in dry and wet seasons to sample aquatic insects using rectangular aquatic nets. Their abundance and richness varied significantly between both dry and wet seasons (P = 0.000; Mann-Whitney U test). More aquatic insect was collected in dry seasons (17,633 individuals) compared to wet seasons (6,542 individuals). The aquatic insect abundance decreased tremendously during the wet seasons (45% reduction) and diversity showed fewer species richness in the wet season (98 genera) compared to the dry season (114 genera). The most affected taxa caused by the heavy water flow were Ceratopsyche sp. (family Hydropschidae and subfamily Limoniinae which huge reduction in density occurred during the wet season. Water temperature, BOD3, DO and COD were significantly different between seasons (Kruskal Wallis test, P < 0.05). The presence of phosphorus and ammonia-nitrogen in water during dry season had major influence on the aquatic insect composition while rainfall was the main factor that regulated the insect communities in wet seasons